Centrifugal sorting machine



N0v.22,1927. f 1,650,218

R. V. JUDSON CENTRIFUGAL SORTING MACHINE Filed April '7, 1925 2Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 22, 1927. 1,650,218

- R. V. JUDSON CENTRIFUGAL SORTING MACHINE Filed April '7, 1925 2Sheets-Sheet 2 mln/11,11",

Patente Nov. 22, 1927.

A' RUSSELL v.- JUnsoN, or'nu'rizoir, istruiti-renie;

CENTRIFUGAL SORT-ING MACHINEQ/ Application le'd April 7,

Thisinvention relates to centrifugal sorting machines adapted for usewith various grains or seeds, suoli as beans, peas, clover` seed and thelike, and its purpose is to .provide ,a construction especiallysuited'to a machine of small size and medium capacity such that it canbe manufactured economi cally and will operate with greater efficiencythan previous machines of this general type. 1tV consists of the variousfeatures and `elements of .constructi on and their combination, asherein describedV and shown in the draW-V ings, and sis-indicated by theClaims. 1

in thedrawings: .Figure 1 is a vertical, axial section of a machineembodying this invention. l

Figure 21s a top plan-view, with the feed hopper removed and, withcertain parts broken away and shown in section. 4 l

Figure 3 is a'vertical axial section through one of the rolls, asindicated at'line, 3 3, on Figure 2; f v Y, Y' ,Y

Figure 1 is a'detail section talenvas indicated at line, 4 4, on Figure2. f, f Y

. Figure 5 is a vertical axial section taken through another vroll,-asindicated at line', 5 5, on Figure 2.` Y 1 Figure 6 is a transversesection througha pair of rolls and the cover casting takenat line, 6 6,on Figure 2. A f

This machine is of the centrifugal type, operatingon substantially thesame principle as the machine shown in my Patent No. 1,366,665, datedJanuary 25, 1921, and comprising several pairs of rolls of yielding mafYtei-iai, arranged in radiating relation to a vertical anis f revolution,so that the beans orother grain to be sorted, if-fed on to theV rollsnear said airis, are carried outward over the rolls by centrifugalforce, While the rough or imperfect specimens and the par ticies of dirtmixed in with them arerfric tionally engaged by the yielding rolls anddravvn between them for discharge sepa'- rately from the smooth Vgrainwhich successfully traverses the rolls to their outer ends.

In the present structure, I providea cenfral supporting column, l,extending up-l Wardly` from the base or supporting casting. 2, andsupporting neary its upper' end a cast member comprising a sleeveportion, 3,vr which fits the column, 1, and is attached thereto by oneor morey bolts, ,jand a flared portion, 5, Whose upper edge is formedwith gear teeth at 6 toV mesh With beveled drive pinions,7, of theseveral pairs of rolls. The

vpicking or'sorting rolls. f

1923. serial no. 63u66?.- Y

sleeve portion,3y,y provides a shoulder, 8, uponwhich is lodged a ballthrust bearing, 9, to

support rotatgively the central hub, 10, of the rotor or framecastingwhich supports thev rollsand serves also as ,a cover for Athem.This rotorcasting includes an annular upstanding flange, 11, forming. acentral l1opper yprovided With a removable bottom plate,`Y

12, onto Whichvthelgrains aredeliverediby gravity Vfrom a. feedv hopper,13, and from.

Which they are move'd by centrifugal force to discharge ports, 14, 'eachof`=\vl1ich leacls `to the trough formed between a pair offthecomposition, l ea'clrmolde'd on to a Ahollovv mandrel ofrptube, 16,;which isfmounted for rotation upon a fixed shaft supported by the rotorcasting.;Y lThe mandrel' of oneA roll of each pair has keyed to it aspur' gear, 17,

anda bevelgear, 7, which may be integrally formed, While the other rollof the paircarries only .aspur gear, 17 a, meshing With the gear` 17.Within thetube, 16, which carries the gear, l17,the shaft, 18, isreduced in diameter Vthroughout most of its length, forming bearingsurfaces7 for the tube only near itsends, and the eXtreme; end portionsof said shaft, .18, are lodged? respectively in a h oleor soclret,19,found in the central por` tion of the rotor casting and .iii a hole, 20,at the outer end of one of the arms of said cast-ing. Fre ferably, theshaft, 18, is hollow throughout its length, with radial openings,

maybe sfpir'ally grooved in any. Well-known manner. for distributinglubricant. Such lubricant may b'esuppliedv from anj oiler or. greasecup, 22,.secured in the outer end of the shaft,l 18.

The ltube or mandrel, 16, ofthe other-roll .is carried bya shaft, 23,yWhich is also reportions of the sha-ft, 23', to require thatthe hole,`28shallbe `large enough to permit in- The v rolls, 15, are. preferablyof .rubberY i l This bush-l ing, 27, 1s enoughilarger than the bearingoo 21, leading' to the bearing surfaces Whichllt) sertion or withdrawalof the shaft, 23, therethrough. The shaft, 18, is similarly insertedorwithdrawn through the hole, 20, in assembling the machine or removingthe rolls for replacement or repair'.

By virtue of the eccentricity of the parts? 24 and 25, the roll carriedby the shaft, 23, may be adjusted toward or from the Other roll byslightly rotating the shaft, 23, in its mountings; and such adjustmentis effective for determining the grading Vof the beans orfother grainwhich the machinewill accomplish. The shaft, 18, is held in'position bya set screw, 29, and a similar set screw, 30, is provided to engage thebushing, 27, of the shaft, 23, for holding the shaft at any position ofadjustment. The grease cup, 22, being fixed tightly on the end of theshaft, 23, may be used as a knob for turning it in making the eccentricadjustment.

As shown in Figure 1, the central portion of the rotor casting includesa downwardly facing beveled gear, 31, which meshes with the drivepinion, 32, on a shaft, 33. The shaft' is journaled in a bearing, 34,formed as a part of the flared casting, 5, in an outboard bearing, 35,beyondY which the shaft may be fitted with a pulley, 36. For driving themachine by hand the hand crank, 37, may b e applied to the shaft, 33, asshown in dotted lines, or a crank handle, 37, may be secured to the rimof the feed hopper, 13, said hopper' being mounted upon the upstandingflange, 11, of the rotor by means of brackets, 53, secured to saidflange by bolts, 54. 1t will be evident that as the drive shaft, 33, isturned, the meshing of the gears, 31 and 32, will cause the rotor torevolve in horizontal plane, thus generating centrifugal. force in thebeans or other grain piled upon thebottom plate, 12, and causing them totravel outwardly for discharge through the ports, 14, and'thence alongthe radially extending roll surfaces.

I find that improved results are obtained, particularly in a smallmachine of this kind, by inclining the roll axes slightly upward fromtheir inner to their outer ends,-say about five degrees from thehorizontal,-so as to somewhat retard the travel of the grains over therolls and allow more time for the culle, stones and dirt to be carriedaway by frictional contact with the rolls. lSuch material is collectedin the inner hopper, 38, while the smooth grain which suc- 'cessfullytravels the full length of the roll surfaces is discharged throughopenings, 39, formed between the ends of the rolls, 15, and the bearingsin which their shafts are lodged, and leading directly to the outerhopper, 40, whose discharge pipe, 41, may

be connected to any convenient receptacle as desired.

Each radial arm of the rotor casting eX- tending outwardly from theannular wall,

11, of the central hopper is formed at its sides with downwardly curvingportions, 42, and with an open slot, 43, in the middle of its top.surface, through which the travel of the grains in a trough formed bythe rolls may be observed. For controlling this travel and holding thegrains close to the surfaces of the rolls, a series of adjustable guardlingers, 44, are mounted to project through the slots, 43, and areconnected by a ring, 45, encircling the flange, 11. rllwo or more ofthese fingers, 44, may be slotted at their vertical portions which lieagainst the flange, 11, so that, by means of clamp screws, 46, they canbe adjustablylsecured at the desired distance from the roll surfaces. Ateach side of the slot, 43, on the under side of the roll cover, 1 preferto'V provide guard ribs, 47,y extending fairly close to the upper sideof each roll, A15, to prevent the grains from bouncing over therollswhen agitated in their outward travel along them. At the inner endsof these ribs, 47, a depending guard flange, 48, extends'transverselyadjacent the inner side ofthe port, 14, and just outside theteeth ofthe gears, 17 and 1S, to prevent any 'material being thrown backbetween gears.

To further direct the travel of the grain, the upper surface of the feedhopper within the fiange, 11, may be formed with low ribs or grooves,49, extending at each side of the ports, 14, and feed grooves, 50, maybe provided leading into each of said ports, 14. rlhese features are notessential, but they comprise corrugations in the hopper bottom whichtend to guide the grains to the ports, 14, in single file so that therolls may act upon them individually. i

By making the roll covers as integral arms of the rotor, the cost ofmanufacture of a machine of this character is greatly reduced andadjustment or repair of the individual rolls is facilitated because theentire rotor with the rolls assembled therein may be lifted ofi from thecenter column, 1, and turned upside down onthe floor or bench, whereuponthe rolls are immediately available for inspection, cleaning oradjustment. As already described, any roll may be removed merely byloosening the set screw, 29 or 30, and withdrawing the supporting shaft,18 or 23, as the case may be. Preferably, the gears are loosely slippedo n to the tubular mandrels, 16, andL retained merely by Voodruf keys,so as to be readily removable if desired, but it is also feasible toknurl the mandrels and malte the gears a tight fit. The roll bearings,being within the tubes, 16, are quite thoroughly protected from the dustand dirt which is present during the sorting process, and thelubrication coming from within the shafts, 18 and 23, meets with nointerference by reason of this dirt; such lubricant as may work out atthe ends ofthe tubes, 16, tends rather to accumulate a limited quantityof dust whichv the base of such pile to vary the rate of feed.

I find that making the hopper, 13, rotatable with the rotor frame givesa more even feed from said hopper than when it is /fixedly mounted abovethe machine.` Apparently the centrifugal force acting Von the grain inthe hopper tends to 'retard its flow through the central discharge mouthby holding it back from said mouth in opposition to the force ofgravity.Y

In using a machine of this type for sorting ciover seed which is muchsmaller than beans or peas and nearly always contains a`1nix ture ofbuclthorn which is a long narrow grain, I propose to turn the rotor inreverse direction so as to cause each pair of rolls to rotate away fromeach other at their upper sides instead of toward each other as forsorting beans. For such use a covering of felt or canvas may besubstituted for the rubber rolls, l5, if desired, and the eccentricmeans of adjusting the rolls may be taken advantage of for setting themquite close together in view of the small size of the clover seed. Inmost machines of this general type, it has been common practice to mounttheA rolls of each pair with the axis of one roll in a plane somewhatabove the axis of the other so that the upper roll would act as animpeller for carrying the grain around as the rotor revolves. Inrefining my machine I have found that the rotor speed of revolution neednot be great and that the rolls can be mounted wit-h their axes in acommon plane. This feature is of special value when the machine isreversed, as just described. for use with clover seed where the culledmatter is not fed between the two rolls but is carried over them byfrictional engagement.

I claim l l. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine, a rotor framecomprising a roll cover casting common to all the sorting rolls andformed with depending integral portions in which the roll shafts aremounted.

2. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine,

a rotor frame comprising an upwardly Vopen .central hopper and aplurality of radially .extending downwar lly concave arms serving abovethe` troughs formed between therolls of the several pairs.

In the combination defined in claim 2, said roll covers having radiallyextending slots, each disposed above one of the troughs between a pairof rolls to permit observation of the grain therein.

5. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine comprising a pair of rollsgeared together in radial arrangement with respect to a vertical axisand a frame by which said rollsare carried for revolution about saidaxis, saidpair of rolls forming a trough extending radially,

'and a control finger arranged for vertical adjustment over said troughfor regulating l the flow of grain therethrough.

' G. In Vthe combination defined in claiml 5, said frame including anupstanding annular fiange defining-a` central feed hopper with slottedroll cover extending outwardly from 1 said flange and the control fingerbeing sup# ported by adjustable securing means on said flange, vandprojecting through the slottoward the rolls.

7. In a centrifugal grain sorting machine 'l comprising a plurality ofrolls geared together in pairs in radial arrangement about a verticalaxis, and a frame by which said rolls are carried for revolution aboutsaid axis, each pair of rolls forming a'trough ex- 8. In a grain-sortingmachine including a pair of yielding rolls geared together and extendingadjacent each other in parallel relation, a shaft for each roll fixedina frame and a tubular core on which the yielding material of each rollis secured and which is jou'rnaled for rotation on the'fixed shaft.

9. In the combination defined in Vclaim 8, said machine including aframe casting having a hole and a socliet axiallyV aligned toreceiverespectively the opposite ends of the shaft and means for lockingthe shaft therein.

l0. In the combination defined in claimf8, said machine including aframe casting having a hole anda socket axially aligned'to receiverespectively the opposite ends of the shaft and means for locking theshaft therein, said casting' including opposing shoulders adjacent thehole and the socket respectively and the vtubulaicore of the roll beingfitted between said shoulders.

l1. In the combination defined in claim 8, said shaft having a passagefor lubricant leading from one end of the shaft inwardly with an out-letbranch extending-,to the bearing surface upon which the roll core turns.

12. In the combination defined in claim v8,

the shaft being reduced in diameter between its ends to form bearingsurfaces of limited longitudinal extent for the roll core.-

13. ln the combination defined in claim 8, one shaft of each pair havingeccentric end portionsengaging a hole and socket of the frame wherebyrotative adjustment of the shaft will vary the distance between therolls of the pair.

let. In the combination defined in claim 8, one shaft of each pairhaving eccentric end portions engaging a hole and sock-et of the framewhereby rotative adjustment of the shaft will vary the distance betweenthe rolls of the pair and means on the frame for securing said shaft atany position of adjustment.

l5. lu the combination delined in claim 8, the inner ends of the tubularcores extending beyond the yielding material and the gears connectingthe rolls of each pair being keyed to said extending` end portions ofthe cores to permit slidable removal of said gears from said cores.

16. ln the combination defined in claim 8, the inner ends of the tubularcores extending also beyond the yielding material and the gearsconnecting the rolls of each pair being keyed to said extending endportions of the cores to permit slidable removal of said gears from saidcores, said gears being stopped against the yielding material of therolls when positioned for operation on said cores.

17. ln a centrifugal grain-sorting machine which includes a plurality ofyielding rolls geared together in pairs and extending in radial relationto a vertical axis, a rotor frame comprising a roll cover casting commonto all the sorting rolls and formed with depending portions in whichfixed shafts are mounted on the covers, each roll having a tubular coreon which the yielding material is secured, said core extending beyondthe ends of said yielding material and being rotatably carried by one ofsaid fixed shafts.

18. In a centrifugal grain sorting machine vwhich includes a. pluralityof yielding rolls geared ogether in pairs and mounted in radial relationlo a vertical avis for revolution about the same, a feed hopper mountedto revolve with said rolls with its axis co-incid- `ing with saidvertical axis of revolution, a fixed master gear centered at saidvertical axis, and pinions on the rolls meshing with said gear fordeiiving motion as the rolls revolve; a carrier frame for the rolls towhich said feed hopper is secured, and a handle on the hopper forturning said frame.

19. In a centrifugal grain sorting machine which includes a plurality ofyielding rolls geared together in pairs and mounted in radial relationto a vertical axis for revolution about the same, a feed hopper mountedto revolve with said rolls with its axis coinciding with said verticalaxis of revolution, the rotatably mounted frame serving as a carrier forsaid rolls and iixedly supporting the feed hopper, together with ahandle on said hopper for turning the carrier.

20. ln a centrifugal grain-sorting machine which includes a plurality ofyielding rolls geared together in pairs and mounted in radial relationto a vertical axis for revolution about that axis, a substantially fiatdistributing plate centrally disposed with respect to the rolls, a feedhopper supported above said plate for discharge thereto, and avertically adjustable sleeve at the discharge mouth of the hopper.

21. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine which includes al pluralityof yielding rolls geared together in pairs and mounted in radialrelation to a vertical axis for revolution about the saine, a centraldistributing plate associated with said rolls, and a feed hopperdisposed above said plate, with means for adjusting the discharge mouthof said hopper toward and from the plate.

ln a centrifugal grain-sorting machine, avcentrally fixed post, acentral master gear having its hub secured to said post loe- .low theupper end thereof, a rotor frame in which the sorting rolls are carried,having a central hub rotatably engaging the upper end of the post with athrust bearing inter- V posed between the hub of the rotor and the hubof the master gear, the central portion of said rotor frame comprising adistributing hopper covering the end of the post and extending over theinner ends of the rolls with feed poits leading thereto.

Q3. ln the combination defined in claim 22, said rotor frame includingoutwardly extending portion serving as covers for the respective pairsof rolls and also supporting said rolls in operative relation to themaster gear.

24C. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine which includes a pluralityof yielding rolls geared together in pairs and mounted in radialrelation to a vertical for revolution about the same, the axes of bothrolls of each pair being disposed at the same elevation in respect tosaid vertical axis.

In a centrifugal grain sorting machine which includes a plurality ofyielding rolls gearedtogether in pairs and mounted in radial relation toa vertical axis for revolution about that axis, means to impart rotationto the rolls about their own axes by said revolution about said verticalaxis and means for feeding grain onto such rolls near their inner endsfor travel outward over the rolls' vunder centrifugal force; said rollsbeing inclined slightly upward in the direction of such travel.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois,this 6th day of April, 1923.'

RUSSELL V. JUDSON.

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